Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Smallholder Farmers Spend Credit Primarily On Food: Gender Differences And Food Security Implications In A Changing Climate, Marissa Carranza, Meredith T. Niles

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications

In many low-income nations agriculture is used as the primary source of income, which in the face of a changing climate, is known to be at considerable risk for the smallholder farmers that rely on it. Financial resources may enable smallholder farmers to implement adaptation practices and diversify income and investments, which has the potential to affect household income and food security. Here we explore relationships between access to different types of financial resources among male and female-headed households and women vs. men, use of financial resources, and its relationship to food security. We use data from the CGIAR Climate …

A Comparative Analysis Of Governance And Leadership In Agricultural Development Policy Networks, Jessica Rudnick, Meredith Niles, Mark Lubell, Laura Cramer

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications

Agricultural development initiatives feature many public and private organizations working together across sectors and scales to pursue the goals of food security and climate resilience. Policy networks are considered a crucial ingredient for the learning and cooperation needed to effectively implement agricultural development projects and increase community resiliency, yet very little comparative empirical data has been collected to assess where and how these networks operate. We contribute to filling this gap by characterizing the governance and leadership patterns within agricultural development policy networks that connect organizations working on climate resilience and food security activities in 14 smallholder farming communities across …

On The Application Of Computational Modeling To Complex Food Systems Issues, Serge William Wiltshire

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Transdisciplinary food systems research aims to merge insights from multiple fields, often revealing confounding, complex interactions. Computational modeling offers a means to discover patterns and formulate novel solutions to such systems-level problems. The best models serve as hubs—or boundary objects—which ground and unify a collaborative, iterative, and transdisciplinary process of stakeholder engagement. This dissertation demonstrates the application of agent-based modeling, network analytics, and evolutionary computational optimization to the pressing food systems problem areas of livestock epidemiology and global food security. It is comprised of a methodological introduction, an executive summary, three journal-article formatted chapters, and an overarching discussion section.

Chapter …